Well, this is one of those races that gets hyped up as being really exciting. I think it really is. All I need to do is see the TV shots of these cars, in a pack of twenty or more, bouncing around, going 180 MPH and staying inches from each other, and even intentionally making contact, and not crashing, and I'm amazed.

On this track the drivers essentially hold the throttle wide open all the time. In days gone past to slow down, they would two-foot it because the reaction from tapping the brake would mean less lost momentum but in today's car, I will see drivers "lifting" a lot while watching the online telemetry.

It's also a crapshoot as far as "the big one" is concerned.

Max Papis and Narain Karthikeyan will be in the truck race on Saturday afternoon as well as Jeffrey Earnhardt (Dale's grandson) and Jarit Johnson (Jimmie's brother).

When JPM first went to nascar i started to watch some of the races, which i found mind numbingly dull, especialy the road races (they complain about lack of overtaking in F1!) but i have to say i found the race i caught at Talladega quite interesting, i dont know about exciting but definitely interesting, it looks pretty specialised.

When JPM first went to nascar i started to watch some of the races, which i found mind numbingly dull, especialy the road races (they complain about lack of overtaking in F1!) but i have to say i found the race i caught at Talladega quite interesting, i dont know about exciting but definitely interesting, it looks pretty specialised.

Huh?

If we count out HRT, Virgin and Lotus, there`s more overtakes in the single NASCAR road course race than in the entire F1 season.

"Jim Hunter was one of NASCAR's giants," said NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France. "For more than 40 years, Jim was part of NASCAR and its history. He loved the sport, but loved the people even more. It seems as if everyone in the sport called him a friend. Jim will forever be missed by the NASCAR community. Our sympathies go out to his entire family."

Good question. I think though that at least you can avoid any potential start line problems that happn in the pack. Ultimately though, you are bound to get shunted back into the mid-field at some time during the race. I think it was the Talladega race earlier this year where Montoya and Mcmurray were part of a smaller group that were hanging back from the main pelaton for a major portion of the race to deliberately try and avoid any multiple pile-ups. I read somewhere today that this might be a tactic employed by the lead chase contenders tomorrow. It's going to be fascinating.

Pit selection is the only benefit of qualifying at Dega. By getting P1, Monty gets first dibs on pit stalls. Even still, its a little negated by the fact that you still need to pit with other cars if the race is under green.

The truck race had a fantastic photo finish. If you missed it, look it up. Love him or hate him, Kyle Busch can flat out drive.

This is one of my hate it, but love it races.
I know it's a crapshoot race, which racing should never be.
On the other hand, as a driver and team you need an pristine car at the end over hundreds of miles at hundred of miles an hour, to win it.
The slightest ding, or bug in the engine bay, and you are toast.

Should be fun, and the odds are even for everyone racing at Talladega today.

Today finds ol'Jp gigging in deepest darkest France at a place called Tulle.
JustinTV wants nothing to do with us race fans here so I am about to switch over the home Slingbox from the kid's Liverpool game.
Good thing that CAT5 cable is rigged too high for them to reach
I am sure they would yank it out if they could.

I didn't quite realise that yet, but we're pretty much down to a 3-way battle for the championship. I seem to remember that, in previous years, there were still 4-5-6 drivers with a shot at it by the time we reached Tally.
Is my memory failing me?

Interesting that, regardless of aero, Montoya on his second out lap, is passing the guys who just exited the pits like they are standing still. All these cars are, from an aero standpoint, running alone.

Hamlin had a messy stop and Im guessing will have a push to move up.Lots of drafting so far, but Im guessing thats cos its a restrictor plate track ? lots of #2 cars overheating after a few laps pushing.